Butterfly orchids in C China's Zhengzhou ready to adorn homes for Spring Festival

A woman pots and shapes butterfly orchids at a butterfly orchid planting base in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuxing)

Butterfly orchid planting bases in Xingyang county and Zhongmu New Area in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, are filling the air with color and life ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival.

Workers have been carefully selecting, potting, shaping, packaging, and sending out the plants to markets across China, brightening homes for the upcoming festival.

In recent years, Zhengzhou has made great efforts to foster leading agri-tech enterprises and has vigorously promoted the cultivation of flowers including butterfly orchids.

The city currently boasts a total butterfly orchid planting area of over 280 mu (about 18.67 hectares). With nearly 200 varieties, butterfly orchid planting bases in the city produce more than 1.5 million plants annually, with around 200,000 sold around the Spring Festival.

The flowers reach markets from Henan to the Yangtze River Delta, as well as the northwestern and northeastern regions of China.

Local butterfly orchid planting bases operate on a model featuring close collaboration among enterprises, village collectives, and farmers, providing local jobs for nearly 100 residents and boosting farmers' combined annual income by over 2 million yuan ($286,796).

Photo shows blooming butterfly orchids at a planting base in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuxing)

Photo shows blooming butterfly orchids at a planting base in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuxing)

Photo shows blooming butterfly orchids at a planting base in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuxing)

Photo shows blooming butterfly orchids at a planting base in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuxing)

A woman pots and shapes butterfly orchids at a butterfly orchid planting base in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuxing)

Photo shows blooming butterfly orchids at a planting base in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuxing)

Photo shows blooming butterfly orchids at a planting base in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuxing)

Photo shows blooming butterfly orchids at a planting base in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuxing)

Photo shows blooming butterfly orchids at a planting base in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuxing)